In the field of medical diagnosis, a CR (Computed Radiography) system capable of handling a radiographic image as digital data is put into practical use. This CR system employs a CR cassette incorporating a phosphor plate. A part of the applied radiation is stored into the phosphor plate as radiation energy, and the phosphor plate is scanned by excitation light to obtain radiographic image data.
In recent years, to meet the requirements of a medical institute provided with a plurality of radiographing rooms, a large-sized CR system is operating on a practical level. In this large-sized CR system, there are a plurality of patients to be radiographed at one time and a plurality of radiographing technicians to perform radiographing operations. This may cause confusion of radiographic image data among different patients. To solve this problem, the instruction which is named radiographing order information including the patient information (name and age of a patient) and radiographic information (date, region and direction of radiographing) is generated in advance. Then this radiographing order information is correlated with the cassette ID (identification information) for identifying the CR cassette and is stored in a control device.
In an FPD (Flat Panel Detector) apparatus having been developed (Patent Literature 1, for example) instead of the aforementioned CR cassette, a radiation detection element arranged on a substrate in a two-dimensional array is incorporated and the electric signal in response to the amount of radiation applied to the radiation detecting element is outputted. This FPD apparatus permits the radiographic image data to be obtained directly, and allows the system structure to be simplified as compared with the CR cassette, whereby smooth radiographing operation is ensured. Further, a plurality of pieces of radiographic image data can be stored by the storage section incorporated in the FPD apparatus, whereby continuous radiographing operations are enabled by one FPD apparatus and radiographing efficiency is enhanced.
In the radiographing operation using the FPD apparatus, in order to ensure that a desired image quality is obtained independently of different radiographing conditions such as the physical build of a patient and the region of radiographing, it is preferred to prepare a plurality of FPD apparatuses each having a different size and type of the scintillator, and to use these FPD apparatuses in conformance to the particular radiographing conditions (Patent Literature 2, for example). However, the FPD apparatus is very expensive. Especially when different FPD apparatuses are to be used in conformance to the particular radiographing conditions as mentioned above, it is important to configure a radiographic system wherein the utilization efficiency of the FPD apparatuses is enhanced. Thus, in a large-scale medical facility provided with a plurality of radiographing rooms wherein a plurality of radiographing technicians are assigned to perform radiographing work, it is assumed to configure an arrangement wherein a plurality of FPD apparatuses are collectively stored in a storage site outside the radiographing room, and the plurality of FPD apparatuses are used by a plurality of radiographing technician.
In this arrangement, a radiographing technician specifies radiographing order information by means of a control device, and selects one FPD apparatus conforming to the radiographing order information for scheduled radiographing, from among a plurality of FPD apparatuses, and the radiographing order information for scheduled radiographing is sent to the selected FPD apparatus. After that, the selected FPD apparatus is taken out of the common storage site, and radiographing operation is performed according to the radiographing order information using the selected FPD apparatus.
However, the FPD apparatuses are similar to one another in appearance. Thus, an FPD apparatus different from the one having been selected may be taken out of the common storage site, with the result that the radiographic image data having been generated cannot be correlated with the radiographing order information. This may require the radiographing operation to be repeated. It is possible to configure a structure wherein the FPD apparatus is equipped with a light emitting section or display section, and selection of that particular FPD apparatus is notified by the light emitting section or display section of the selected FPD apparatus, whereby incorrect use of the FPD apparatus can be prevented. This structure, however, may increase the size of the FPD apparatus and production costs.
In one of the techniques having been disclosed (Patent Literature 3), the inlet of a radiographing room is equipped with a sensor for detecting the FPD apparatus. When the sensor has detected that the FPD apparatus is taken out of the storage site and is brought into the radiographing room, the radiographing order information for scheduled radiographing selected in advance is sent to the FPD apparatus. According to this technique, the radiographing order information is sent to the FPD apparatus that is brought into the radiographing room and is used for the radiographing. The radiographic image data is generated by this FPD apparatus. This arrangement ensures precise correlation between the radiographic image data and radiographing order information.    Patent Literature 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-122304    Patent Literature 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-26283    Patent Literature 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-141240